Monday, 4 May 2020

Generic Research: Artist Website 1

Blossoms band page - link from video analysis 


The website adheres to typical conventions of a music/artist website.
The homepage consists of a main image of the band members in the exact same location as the cover art of their newly released album this year. It constructs the band as a brand though their retro-style clothing and the brightly coloured mise en scene - reinforcing the bands ideas about how they should represent themselves as pervious albums also all include pictures of them as a group on.

The menu bar is placed clearly on the left which is a typical convention of a website to make all areas easily visible and accessible. There are links to tour, videos, merchandise store and a music store reinforcing a commercial imperative.
 The colour palette and layout is quite simple as is their band logo and the iconography they use. This simplistic layout is consistent throughout the website maintaining a brand identity.

Cross media production and digital convergence is a present on the homepage with hyperlinks to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Spotify. All these platforms are used to promote the brand and to interact with fans. The links make the platforms easily accessible for fans to find out more information, see what they have been up to etc. This could link to Henry Jenkins 'participatory culture' theory where fans are active consumers that can interact with the artist through sharing, commenting and creating online communities such as fan pages:(https://www.instagram.com/blossomsvideos/?hl=en)

The podcast link is something that is not conventional for a band/artist website in particular although, this is something the band do every week as part of their star persona. It includes interactive features such as calling fans or reading out fans comments to maintain their active audience.

On the videos section the first one linked in is the one i analysed. This is used to promote the bands star persona and their music through fun and enticing videos. The layout is again very simplistic to maintain the house style. When clicking on the video the viewer is not taken to another website the video is just embedded to keep fans on the website and to save moving over to another tab which could be more time consuming.

After clicking on the music store tab it takes you to that page where there is a pop up regarding deliveries. This keeps fans aware the band are doing their best despite the circumstances and the viewer has to actively click off of it to access the website fully. 

The website does not use easter eggs which is quite unconventional although, on the home page of their store there is a header mentioning a competition which is conventional for bands to do especially after a new release. The band tactically mention that people who have pre ordered the album automatically are in the competition promoting the benefits of buying their album as a way of saying thank you almost. This represents the bands persona as grateful and caring of their fans perception of them.

Their house style and brand identity is further maintained and emphasised through their merchandise online store by including their logo on the centre at the top of the page quite large and having the background image as a picture of all the members. This further shows how important it is for the band as a collective to make their faces recognisable to their fans, something that is conventional for most band websites and videos.

No comments:

Post a Comment

FINAL: website